Catadioptric lenses, in general, permit a more compact size of lens for a given eguivalent focal length (EFL) and inheritantly provide better correction of chromatic aberration. This becomes very important when designing long focal length lenses. The disadvantage of having a central obscuration is often over looked in order to achieve a smaller and faster telephoto lens then is possible with a lens of refracting optics of comparable specifications.
An extreme case is an astronomical telescope having a focal length into meters. The chromatic aberrations, particularly secondary axial color of the refractive optics of this focal length would make such a telescope very limited in its ability to resolve minute details that are capable of being discerned with a reflective type device In addition, the cost of making such a refracting lens is also astronomical.
When it is desirable to have a long focal length zoom lens, the catadioptric lens can be used as a fixed front group and the zooming group may be placed behind it. If zooming groups are located before the real image is formed, then the power of each of these zooming groups must be quite strong to achieve a necessary change in magnification within a limited space. To obtain a 10 to 1 zooming ratio, would reguire particularly strong zooming groups to minimize necessary zooming travel of the variator and compensator and in turn would make an appropriate correction of aberrations more difficult to achieve.
The variator must work around a magnification of unity to achieve the shortest conjugate distance for the zoom relay. The speed of the zoom lens is determined by the fixed size pupil of the catadioptric portion of the front group of the lens, and the F number of the lens is, therefore, variable with zooming. Consequently, a zoom lens having a 10 to 1 zooming ratio while having a useful f/12 at the long end of the zoom range must also have a speed of f/1.2 at the shortest end of that range. The combination of the aperture and the field dependent aberrations like spherical and coma at the short end of the zoom range will to a large extent determine the complexity of relay components and the size of the zoom lens as a whole.
The present invention, provides a new and improved catadioptric zoom lens having a long equivalent focal length reaching into meters and a zoom ratio on the order of 10 to 1.